Chapter 4

Seth watched the paramedics wheel Brad away, then he turned his attention to Hunter. The legend looked tired and very, very worried. Hunter leveled his attention on Seth. "Okay, explain to me what happened again."

"He had Amber pinned against the wall." Seth replied. "She looked frightened and it pissed me off. I told Maddox to let go of her, but he wouldn't listen. He pretty much told me to buzz off.I don't know what came over me." He looked over to where Amber stood with Lexi. "All I could think about was protecting her."

She met his stare, appreciation and something he couldn't quite identify in her eyes.

Hunter turned to Amber. "Did Brad actually harm you, Amber?"

Even as she shook her head, she rubbed her wrist with her other hand. "I don't think so."

Apparently Seth hadn't been the only one to notice. Hunter closed the distance between them and touched her arm. "If he didn't hurt you, then why are you rubbing your wrist?"

"Oh." She looked down then back up at Hunter. "Well, he did grab hold of me."

"Let me see," Hunter ordered.

She moved her hand and Seth noted the look of anger that crossed Hunter's face. "You're going to have a bruise there tomorrow." He took a step back and scrubbed a hand over his short hair. "Okay, this is what we're going to do. You guys are all going to head back to the hotel and wait to hear from me. You are not to talk to anyone about what happened here."

"That's it?" Seth asked as his anger slowly began to boil again.

"No. That's not it," Hunter snapped. "I'm going to head to the hospital and wait for Maddox to regain consciousness. At that point I'll try to convince him not to file charges against you."

"Against me?" Seth couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "He's the one who put a hand on Amber."

"Don't you think I know that?" Hunter argued. "But you practically beat him to death. This wasn't part of some script, Seth. It was real life and he has a right to file charges. Technically, I should call the police, but we need to try and keep this out of the press." He let out a sigh then scrubbed his hands over his face. "I'm going to use everything in my power to convince him not to do press charges, but you need to keep your mouth shut and keep your distance." He leveled a finger at Seth. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I get it," Seth replied. He didn't like it one bit, but he did understand.

"Are you kidding me?" Lexi protested. "Maddox should be fired for what he did."

"I realize that, Lexi, but exactly what do you think he'd do if we fired him now?" Hunter challenged. "I'll tell you what he'd do. Maddox would run directly to the police and then to the media and then we would have a huge scandal on our hands. Seth's career is already hanging in the balance. We fire Maddox and Seth can not only kiss his wrestling career goodbye but quite possibly his freedom too."

Lexi opened her mouth to argue and Hunter held up a hand, stopping her. "Save your protests, ok. I'm on your side on this, but two wrongs don't make a right and unfortunately, Seth put the power right into Maddox's hands with this little stunt. What I have to do now is to try and keep him from using it." he sighed a second time. "Now please just do as I say and give me a chance to make this right. Go back to the hotel and keep quiet until you hear from me."

Silence followed the group as they made their way back to the hotel. As soon as she could Amber broke off from the rest and headed for her room. Once inside she dropped the bag on the floor then crawled onto the bed, pulled her knees up to her chest and cried.

In the two weeks since she'd arrived in the WWE she'd lost her first two matches, nearly been injured and to top things off, she'd been targeted by a slimeball. Now she was responsible for said slimeball being injured and a good man possibly losing his career.

She had such high hopes when she'd arrived and with each passing day those hopes seemed to fade as cold hard reality set in. The big leagues moved so much faster than she expected. Could she keep up the mental and physical pace necessary to succeed?

Faithfully, she'd watched the show every week and envisioned how backstage, away from the cameras, they were all one big happy family, looking out for each other and getting along. Maybe she'd wished it that way so she could deal with the cutthroat and backstabbing that took place in the developmental ranks.

Yet, after being here, reality demanded she abandon her dream and face the ugly truth. While the stars were bigger and the money was better, the social and business workings were exactly the same. Had she really worked all her life for this?

A soft knock on her door had Amber quickly wiping her eyes. She slid off the bed and padded to the door. She opened it to find Seth standing on the other side. "Hi," she whispered.

His lips tipped into a small smile. "Hi. Can I come in?"

She stepped back, allowing him entry, then let the door close behind her as she turned to face him. Silence fell between them as he appeared to study her. "You've been crying," he finally said.

Embarrassed at her moment of weakness she looked away. "Maybe just a little."

He closed the distance between them and gently took her hands in his. "Amber, look at me."

She flicked her gaze up and noted the affection in his eyes as he looked at her. "Please don't cry," he whispered.

His words caused her to do exactly the opposite as tears welled yet again. "I can't help it." She pulled away and stalked further into the room. "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be on the verge of losing your job."

He followed her. "Brad has deserved a good beat down for sometime. The mouthy little punk always likes to prey on the new Divas and stick his nose in where it doesn't belong."

"But you really hurt him, Seth. If I wasn't here..."

His hands moved to cup her face and upon contact she let her sentence fade. His gaze bore through her like a hot poker heating her from the inside. "If you weren't here it would just be some other Diva. You have no reason to blame yourself in this situation, baby."

His endearment wasn't lost on her and she stared at him as her emotions prepared for battle. She had no business getting involve with Seth Rollins or anyone else, yet she couldn't deny the fierce attraction she felt for him. Beyond his good looks, the man exhibited every quality she'd ever envision in her perfect guy.

He'd defended her honor and was here now checking on her because he was worried. Falling for him wasn't part of her plan, but it was most certainly happening. "How can I not blame myself?" She choked as a sudden irrational fear took hold. What if Brad refused to play ball with Hunter? What if he filed charges against Seth? "You wouldn't have lost your cool if it wasn't for me."

"Maybe," he leaned down, closing the remaining distance between them, his face mere inches from hers. "But you didn't force me to do it." He pressed a soft kiss against the tip of her nose. "And I'd do it all over again if it meant protecting you."